Series: FAO Legislative Studies

In recent years, many countries have significantly revised their existing legislation or adopted new legal frameworks for the protection and management of wildlife. This study assesses the current status of national wildlife laws around the world, with a particular emphasis on legal innovations that have emerged over the last decade. The study focuses on domestic legislation, but also briefly examines the main features of international wildlife treaties, highlighting the linkages between global, national and local instruments.

While retaining many of the basic elements of earlier legislation, recent laws address new issues and reflect new strategies for wildlife protection and management. They provide for better protection of biodiversity, deal with broader threats to wildlife within and outside protected areas, place clearer emphasis on management planning, pay more attention to sociocultural dimensions of wildlife management, enhance the involvement of affected persons and stakeholders in decision-making, and allow greater scope for local communities to participate in the benefits of wildlife use.